Mud
by Chibi Zia
Summary: Watch as Takao tells Max the amazing story of how he and Kai got together! ... Watch as he fails horribly, Max interrupts at the most importunate moments and the 'amazing story' ends up not all that romantic... TyKa, gift for Dazzley. Funny fluff?


It was a calm and normal day for one Max Mizuhara....

"Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaax!!!"

... Was, being the keyword here, before one Takao Kinomiya barreled into his house with no ceremony, yelling a quick "sorry!" at Max's dad as he ran past after the man invited him in the house. Takao stopped short of the sofa where Max was currently situated, sliding to a halt in front of him before flailing his arms rapidly and proceeding to speak at what Max assumes to be the speed of light. He blinks slowly at the sight before him, which he has, by now, dubbed fondly 'the flailing (and failing) world champion'. Takao's garbled and fast-spoken speech translates to absolutely _nothing_ in Max's ears, for once; even though he's used to Takao's screams and yells by now. This is probably because Takao usually doesn't do his impression of an overly-excited puppy which has just found (and promptly eaten) a giant bowl of cocaine at _nine _in the morning.

"What?" Max asks Takao in English, his bewilderment killing his grasp on Japanese. Also, _nine in the morning_. In summer, no less! This is way too much for Max.

Takao stops flailing his arms, instead deciding to cross them against his chest and sigh exasperatedly, though not before catching his breath again. "I _said_," Takao starts to say, in a normal-person talking pace and also in Japanese, "I have something super important and _awesome_ to tell you, dude!"

Takao punctuates his 'dude' (said in English to emphasize his point or make fun of Max, Max isn't quite certain) with wide movement of his arms which looks a lot like more flailing but actually isn't. Max is glad; Takao has the habit of breaking things when he flails too much.

"Something important?" Max repeats, cocking his head to the side very, very slightly. "What is it?"

"It's this super _great_ secret!" Takao gushes, a wide goofy grin on his face. "I haven't had a secret so secret and awesome since the time Rei--"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, with the candlestick and the skirt and the catnip. Takao, you do realize it's only a secret if you manage to _keep_ it, right?" Max asks him, amused. The other boy huffs.

"What's the point of a secret if I can't share it to my _bestest friend in the entire universe_?" Takao questions back, eyes wide as he blinks repeatedly and supposedly 'adorably', holding a hand to his chest.

"Yeah, one of _four_," Max answers with a good-natured grin. After all, he has four too. They all have a different kind of "BFF"-ness with each other, after all. Though Kai would never admit it... Kai would, in fact, rather not even admit they were his friends ever, never mind _best_ friends. "Well, since you're _dying _to tell me...! Go on, say it."

"Weeell," Takao starts dramatically, and then pauses awkwardly, turning his head so he is looking at Max upside-down. "Uh, Maxie, why are you standing on your head?"

Max laughs out loud. "That took you a while to notice! Geez, Takao... I was just putting all the blood back in my head. Pretty cool idea, right?"

Takao doesn't move his head, narrowing his eyes in wonder. "Putting all the blood back in your head...?"

"It's morning," Max tells him, and Takao makes a face before pushing him off his precariously-set balance and making Max fall on the floor. "Ouch! Hey, physical violence normally only happens to you or Daichi!" He mutters in protest, sitting up and rubbing his head.

"Hiromi's rubbing off on me," Takao exclaims before using Max's momentary dizziness to jump on the couch, effectively claiming it. Max laughs and whines half-heartedly before just letting himself lean against it.

"You're harsh in the morning, Takao," Max says plaintively.

"You've had worse, Maxie," the other boy proclaims back, making himself more comfortable. "_Anyway_, the secret is... drum roll please?" Max dutifully starts a small drum roll on his own thigh. "Thanks! Anyway, the secret is..."

Takao pauses for dramatic effect as Max continues his drum roll, certain whatever the secret is _totally wasn't worth all this_, possible blackmail material or not.

"Kai and I are going out!" Takao finally yells, pumping up a fist in the air as Max stops drum rolling (quite happily, considering his thigh is now hurting from all those repetitive tiny slaps).

"... Is that it?" Max asks, unimpressed.

Takao sits up with an affronted look on his face, glaring at Max. "What do you mean, 'is that it'?! Hellooo, did you not get me? Me and Kai! Gay! Ish! Together! _Boinking_ only not yet but _to-be_ boinking! Kissing! Making-out! Holding hands! Other generally girly stuff!"

Max blinks.

"How are you not getting this?!?" Takao yells out, letting himself fall back down on the couch. "Kai an' me, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, first comes love then comes ... baby phoenixes and dragons I don't really know," Takao finishes, lamely.

"In your case, it was 'first comes love, then comes Beyblading, then comes extremely long and meaningful gazes from both sides of the stadium, then comes _bugging Max at nine am about this_'," Max corrects, and Takao blows him a raspberry for his insolence. "Takao, it's really not that big of a secret, you know?"

"How is it not that big of a secret?!" Takao asks bewilderedly. "It happened just yesterday! Unless Kai called you already, the _cheat_! ... Wait; does Kai even know how phones work?"

Max ignores Takao's usual 'random questions and comments about Kai that make no sense at all' (these have included, before, 'Kai is a robot', 'Kai is really a girl' and 'Kai wants to have sex with Rei because he likes cats', to give you an idea how absolutely ridiculous they are) and concentrates on the 'yesterday' part. "Wait, back up, yesterday?"

"Yeeeesterday," Takao repeats, slowly. "Yeeeees."

"... You mean you guys weren't together _before_?"

There is a pause as the silence that stretches between both Max and Takao finds himself in a quite awkward situation. Takao slowly creeps his head over the edge of the sofa to stare at Max, expression completely deadpan.

"What."

Max grins sheepishly.

"We all thought you two had been together for months now," he exclaims with a casual shrug. "If we had known you weren't, we'd probably all have played sneak matchmaker..."

"'We all'?" Takao repeats. "_Matchmaker_?"

"The entire team! Maybe Hitoshi, too, but who knows what your brother thinks...And Daichi probably didn't, but I'm not the one explaining the birds and the bees to _him_."

"_Matchmaker_!?" Takao stresses again.

"If we had known neither of you had noticed the hints you both through at each other, Hiromi would probably have locked you in the closet until you came out. ... Together or came out as homosexuals, I'm not sure, she wasn't really specific on that when she talked about it."

Takao is strangely silent, and Max cranes his neck up to see the current Beyblade World Champion trying to choke himself with a pillow. Ah, how the mighty have fallen.

"Kai is going to be jealous if you snog that pillow too much, Takao," Max warns him, only to receive the pillow right in the face. "I need to stop hanging out with Rei, I get it," the blond mutters as he plucks a feather from his mouth. Bleeeech. Since when do couch pillows have feathers in them, anyway?

"You suck," Takao informs him with a sigh. "So, basically, I manage to get together with Kai _freaking_ Hiwatari, Mr. 'I-Have-So-Many-Issues-I-Drive-Psychiatrists-Crazy' and 'What is this moral compass you speak of', the one guy in the entire _universe_ who can be more stubborn than me, and I don't even get a 'Go, you'?!"

"You're treating your relationship like it's a contest or something," Max says with a frown. "Takao..."

"I know, I know," Takao interrupts him, and when Max looks up at him Takao is staring back with a sheepish grin. "It's not what I meant. Trust me; I'd never do something like that to Kai. It's just, I was so happy and excited, and it's kind of downer to know no one else in the world will be excited about this as I am..."

"There's always Kai?" Max points out casually, and then stifles a grin when Takao throws him an '_exactly_' look. "Okay, okay, good point. I'm sorry I rained on your parade. You have to admit though; you get a _lot_ more parades than normal people..." Max trails off innocently, and gets hit with another pillow to the head. "All your pillows are belong to me," he deadpans at Takao, who looks confused at Max's sudden lack of grammar and dejected when Max makes good on his word and monopolizes all the pillows.

That reference just isn't the same in Japanese, Max suspects.

"Stop being so mean to meeeee," Takao whines. "This is supposed to be a happy, sunshine-y day, filled with love and rainbows and _happiness_, damn it!"

Max uses one of the stolen pillows to hide his laughter. "Oh my God," Max starts in English, too choked up to bother translating before switching back to Japanese, "You are _so_ gay."

Takao sticks his tongue out in retaliation, and then turns his nose up in the air. "I feel pretty and witty and gay," he declares dramatically, and Max manages to keep a straight face for all of one second before laughing himself half to death again. "And I pityyy, those who're near meee, 'cause I hardly can believe I'm real~!" Takao sings, causing Max to hit him with one of the previously stolen pillows.

"And you say _Rei _sings like a yowling cat," Max complains, lips twitching as he tries to fight down his laughter.

"Oh, he totally does."

There's a pause as Max considers just how Takao can possibly know that -- after all, _he's_ never heard Rei sing, and though the team didn't do _everything_ together they sure as heck came close enough that Max should know if Rei had decided to undergo a sudden bout of deliriously bad singing. Huh. Max then decides to throw the poor world champion a bone:

"You said you got together yesterday, right? Sooo, how did you and Kai end up from eternal rivals to boyfriends seemingly overnight?"

Takao throws his arms up in the air triumphantly, and Max edges away from the sofa in case he catches Takao's craziness. (After more than three years, he's either immune or already infected, but whatever.) "Finally! I thought you'd _never_ ask."

"I'm going to regret asking that, aren't I?" Max asks rhetorically. Takao ignores him.

"You know how yesterday, Kai and I were blading --"

"The real question is _when are you not_?" Max jokes, which also goes ignored by Takao. If he wasn't himself, he'd probably be insulted.

"-- and then you guys left because it got dark and you were worried it was going to rain?" Takao finishes and Max nods, even though it hadn't been so much worried as they _knew_ it was going to; they'd left when they heard thunder in the distance. They'd been unable to convince Kai and Takao to quit their match while they were ahead. Max had bladed in the rain before -- most of the team had, in fact -- but it still wasn't exactly a condition he would fight in _on purpose_, especially since normal rain and thunderstorms were pretty different. "Well, by the time Kai and I finished our match, it was pouring out there, so we headed back to the dojo and I told Kai to stay at my place..."

-----------

"Uuuuugh, I'm _soaked_! It's raining _buckets_ out there!"

Takao steps into the dojo as he declares this, squeezing the water out of his ponytail. He turns to look at Kai as the other boy enters behind him, his hair pretty much plastered to his face.

"Wow, you look like a drowned rat," Takao comments, trying hard not to laugh. Kai shoots him an extremely peeved look from somewhere beneath his bangs and Takao raises his hands up innocently. "C'mon, you know it's true. I guess this is what we get for continuing to blade even when the sky got so dark, huh?"

Kai shrugs non-comittally, taking off his scarf. Takao knows there are already weights in the thing because Kai is, as Takao himself had put it, 'completely batshit crazy', but the rain must have made it all the worse. Takao is _extremely_ glad he wasn't the one wearing that. He takes off his shoes and socks, a small puddle starting to form around both boys as they stand in the doorway. After what seems like a few seconds of hesitation, Kai follows suit. His baggy pants are weighed down by the water and his belt is having trouble holding them up by now, so much so that Kai himself is holding them one handed. Takao sporfles a bit but tries to silence himself at the glare Kai sends him.

"Come on, I'll loan you some clothes for a while and ask gramps to put yours in the dryer or something. Also, you're staying here," Takao tells Kai, matter-of-factly, ignoring Kai's wide eyed look and ready-made protest. "There's no way that storm is going to stop anytime soon, and there's no point in getting you dry only to throw you back out to get wet again. Besides, you're already here, and you live like, _forever_ away. You can't say no!"

"Kinomiya," Kai starts, warningly, but Takao simply grins at him and takes hold of his arm, dragging him deeper into the family dojo. "...O-oi -- not again," Kai mutters under his breath and simply sighs, letting Takao led him away.

-----------

"Again?" Max interrupts, curiously.

"How did you think I got Kai to stay at my place back when the whole Saint Shields fiasco started?" Takao answers.

".... You know, 'inviting someone' kind of implies being able to say no."

"It's _Kai_. He'd have said no even if it meant sleeping in bushes for the rest of the year."

"I think he likes sleeping in bushes, actually," Max says casually, and Takao ignores him, deciding instead to continue his story.

Max is going to be offended at being so easily dismissed one of these days. ... Maybe when it's passed noon.

-----------

Takao pushes Kai into the bathroom forcefully. "C'mon, go get dry, take a shower, whatever. I'll bring you some clothes after I change and dry _myself_, and then we'll take the wet ones to Gramps and have our own mini-party or something."

Not leaving the older boy the chance to protest (the trick to making Kai do something lies in _never_ giving him the time to protest, actually), Takao slams the door shut behind Kai, proud of himself as he practically skips to his bedroom. Victory! Muahahaha...

-----------

"Muahahaha?"

"I have an _awesome_ mental narration of my life, shut up I'm trying to tell a story here."

"Sorry, sorry..."

-----------

Takao changed into his pajamas after quickly drying himself off with a spare towel. He's not that bothered by the cold, and by the sounds of it Kai has decided to monopolize the shower since Takao suggested it so viciously. It's not the first time he uses Takao's shower, of course -- the entire team ended up having to use it at _least_ once -- so it's not a big deal. He stares at his clothes critically, trying to find something that will not cause Kai to choke him with his scarf. Somehow, he really can't see the guy in bright yellow. Though if you'd have told Takao the first time he met the boy that Kai would later have an entire colour scheme of _purple_, he'd have laughed in your face...

-----------

"Stop talking about what colour Kai wears well and get on with it, Takao, or _I'll_ choke you with Kai's scarf."

"Wow, Maxie, I didn't know you were so violent."

"We're out of mayo."

"... Okay, getting on with it before I die horribly."

-----------

After a lot of deliberation, Takao takes one of Hitoshi's old hand-me-down shirts (dark blue with the logo of some super old American band from Hitoshi's 'troubled youth years' and _still_ too big to fit Takao properly, much to his chagrin). Which only leaves him with pants. And underwear.

... Okay, there is _no way_ he is loaning Kai one of his old used pair of boxers. Kai will simply have to go commando or use his own pair, wet or not.

... Hmmm, Kai going commando...

-----------

"Earth to Kinomiya Takao, do you copy? Stop drooling and get back on the subject already!"

"Hmmmmmm-- wha-- oh. Uh. Right. Pants!"

"... Sure, let's say that was the subject..."

"No -- see -- it was going to be! Because..."

-----------

Takao, glad he had a growth spurt recently so that Kai was only an inch or two taller instead of half a foot, proceeded to choose a pair of pants to loan out for Kai. They might be a little too short, but nothing that would show too much. Takao was also sure that there was no way Kai had a bigger waistline than he did, so he was safe on that front. Kai may be more muscled than he is, but the guy has the appetite of a mouse. A _dead_ one. With that thought in mind, Takao felt safe in picking up the first pair of pants he saw.

A pair tight jeans.

_... Uhm, maybe I should go with something else_, Takao thinks nervously. After all, he'd never seen Kai in anything but baggy pants. He looks at the rest of his pants, quickly, trying to find a pair of them that was _not_ alsoa pair of tight jeans.

After multiple minutes of searching, he came up short.

"Oh shit," Takao realizes aloud, "The only kind of pants I own are tight jeans."

-----------

"Oh my God, the only pair of pants you own are _tight jeans_? How many pairs do you _have_?"

"Uh... maybe... ten? Twenty?"

"That's... kind of impressive, but sad. Oh, wait! You used to wear shorts back when we first met, right? What happened to those?"

"Hmmmm, Kai in short shorts..."

"... Hey, Takao, please stop drooling on my couch..."

"Wha?"

"I liked you better before you had hormones. Just keep on with it."

"R-right. Where was I?"

"Jeans."

"Oh yeaaaah. So, I'm stuck giving Kai a pair of super tight jeans..."

-----------

_This isn't such a big deal_, Takao rationalizes with himself as he stands in front of the bathroom door, pants and t-shirt in his arms. _Just because he's never wore them before in front of me mean he never wore them _ever_. Yeah. It's just pants. Kai will just have to suck it up and put them on. No problem._

Takao stands unmoving in front of the bathroom door.

"... They're just _pants_," Takao repeats under his breath determinedly, and knocks on the door. "Uh, Kai? Buddy? I got you some spare clothes -- I'm leaving them next to the bathroom door, okay? Uuuh. Just... pick them up and come out when you're ready!"

A complete silence follows, and Takao feels his eyebrow twitch as he is completely ignored by Kai. Again. Aaaaaaargh that _guy_.

"Are you even there?" Takao whines. "Cough once if you drowned in the shower, and twice if you left using the bathroom window! ... Wait, that doesn't work..."

"Kinomiya, just _leave_," Kai's voice grumbles out from behind the bathroom door.

"You're alive!" Takao shouts with relief. "I'm buying you a _bell_ with a _collar_! Make some noise if you're not dead, sheesh!"

Takao can practically _hear_ Kai's deadpan look, with the slight tilt of the eyebrow to show how completely _retarded_ Takao is being. As much as you can hear a look, anyway. Can blind people hear looks? ... And this isn't the best train of thought to have while Kai is planning murder in his bathroom, is it?

"Alright, alright, leaving the clothes and leaaaaviiing youuuuu. I'll. Go make some popcorn! Or something."

"Kinomiya," Kai starts, exasperated, but Takao cuts him off.

"Okay, I can tell when I'm not wanted! Sheesh..."

-----------

"That's a lie," Max informs him, and Takao glares at him in retaliation, preparing to grab a pillow only to realize Max still has all of them. "Ha ha, you can't throw a pillow at me, I am the pillow master~!"

"You're _ruining_ my _story_!" Takao complains.

"Sor_ry_. But can we skip to the part where something happens? Because so far it's a lot of you panicking about pants and Kai going Kinomiya... No offence, Takao, but that's kind of similar to how every single day with the two of you passes."

"I was _about to_. You can't rush art, you know!"

"I have the feeling artists everywhere are offended by you considering your storytelling of 'how you and Kai started getting it on' _art_."

"_Anyway_. I was in my room when Kai _finally_ came out of the bathroom --"

"Maybe he had the runs?"

"..."

"Or he was _masturbating_!"

"... You're banned from talking, Maxie. Forever. So, uh, Kai comes into my room..."

-----------

_Whee_, Takao thinks happily as he makes Dragoon spin with his bare hand like a regular top, lying on his stomach on the floor of his room. He takes a handful of his newly made batch of popcorn and munches on it as he watches his blade spin, far more slowly than it would normally. _The simplest pleasures really are the best_. Takao looks up suddenly at the sound of footsteps approaching, and as he does he is met with a face full of Kai Hiwatari.

Now, seeing Kai wouldn't normally be a big deal (okay, that depends on the previous circumstances -- Kai is kind of an unpredictable and insane person-slash-ninja like that) but normally, Kai Hiwatari is _clothed_. This ... is not exactly the case right now.

Takao's eyes trail slowly up Kai's legs (the mystery of Kai's extremely nicely shaped legs; unveiled!), starting with his bare feet (and, though Takao is a strong advocator of 'feet are uglyyyyyy', the novelty of Kai not wearing anything on his feet is enough to make him stare at least a little) up to his ... Well, uhm, yes. Kai is definitely not wearing underwear.

_Look up,_ Takao's brain yells at him, _Look up before you die horribly!_

Not being one to ignore extremely sound advice when he hears it, Takao does, quickly, up to Kai's face. There's no way in hell Kai hasn't noticed him staring -- unless ... Unless Kai Hiwatari was currently quick drying his hair with a towel.

_That is so human_, Takao thinks stupidly. He then proceeds to continue his staring, since he can. Hey, in blading or in life, Takao has _always _been an opportunist.

Kai, though Takao distinctly recalls giving him a T-shirt to wear, is currently not wearing any. His upper body his completely bare (even his face paint is gone) and Takao stares as a drop of water goes down the length of Kai's torso, slowly, starting at his chin, going down his neck, dipping near his pectorals, going through Kai's horribly muscled upper body for a fourteen year old (making Takao feel completely inadequate) and finally disappearing in Kai's navel.

_That is both the most clichéd and sexiest water droplet I have ever seen_, Takao decides.

He also decides that Kai is stupidly attractive, though this is something he'd noticed before. Takao is oblivious, not _retarded_.

-----------

"Wait! Press pause for a second!"

"What _now_, Max?"

"This isn't the first time you thought Kai was attractive?"

"... Maxie, the only one who hasn't noticed Kai is hot is _Kai_. Also, Hiromi used to gush to me about it before she met him, though she went with 'cute' more than anything."

"Did you already know you had a crush on him? Was it all physical? This is a _cop-out_, man."

"Wha...?"

"You can't call this good storytelling if you don't explain everything!"

"Maxie, this isn't a story on how I realized I l-- uh, had a crush on Kai. This is the story of how we got _together_. It's not the same."

"Okay, but _when_ did you realize?"

"... One of our Beyblading matches following the BEGA thing? Maybe before?"

"And you never acted on it?!"

"... It's _Kai_. How many times do I have to say it? I didn't want to ruin everything by scaring him off. I wasn't sure the guy even knew what _kissing was_, give me a break!"

"... Does he?"

"Well, if he didn't before, he sure does now. Can I get back to the actual story or do I have more explaining to do?"

"Fiiiiiiiine, but I still call this a cop-out."

"Now you sound like Hiromi... _Whatever_. So, after I ogled Kai for a bit..."

-----------

"What are you doing?" Kai asks him, and for a terrifying second Takao thinks he might have actually realized Takao was watching him. Then he notices that Kai is pointing to the still-spinning Dragoon, and he breaths a sigh of relief. Mentally! Because if it was outwardly then Kai would ask _more questions_ and Takao would panic and then he would molest Kai and Kai would _run away forever_. ... Okay, maybe not the last two parts. But still! _Bad stuff would happen_.

"M'watching Dragoon spin," Takao answers, managing to sound casual. It helps that he does not have something inconvenient between his pants right now. Thank you, fear, for being a mood killer. "Why aren't you wearing a shirt?"

... No, wait. Bad brain. You don't ask questions like that out _loud_. Kai raises an eyebrow at the question, pointing somewhere behind Takao. Takao follows his finger to see, still lying on his bed, the T-shirt he'd planned on loaning Kai to wear.

"I'm guessing because it's on your bed," Kai deadpans, and Takao makes a face. He could've _sworn_ he'd brought it with him when he went to gave Kai his clothes.

"... Shut up and go put it on, you're making the rest of us look fat."

Kai tilts his head, as if he doesn't quite get it, then scoffs as he makes the few steps needed to grab the shirt and puts it on, much to Takao's relief. And disappointment. Stupid sexy Kai. Stupid _oblivious_ sexy Kai.

"You're not fat," Kai responds, finally, and Takao beams back at the almost-compliment until he adds, absent-mindedly: "Anymore."

...Stupid sexy oblivious _asshole_. Takao sits up dramatically, gesturing wildly. "Hey! What do you mean by that, you jerkwad?!"

Kai, who was far more busy critically observing the shirt Takao had loaned him (and possibly trying to decide who it originally came from, since it was loose on his figure because, well ... compared to Kai, Takao is pretty puny), didn't even look up as he shrugged off Takao's questions and insult, as if it meant nothing to him. ... Considering this is Kai, it probably _does _mean nothing to him. Nnnngh stupid Kai. "You used to weigh more when you were younger," Kai answers, matter-of-factly.

"... Is that a compliment, or an insult?" Takao asks, completely bewildered.

"Neither, Kinomiya. It's a fact."

Takao pauses as he considers this, and then frowns angrily. "You're not getting any popcorn with comments like these."

Kai sits down on the floor, as far from Takao as possible consider Takao's room is, well, puny. Like him. Stupid muscled sexy Kai. "I didn't want any," Kai mumbles, taking out Dranzer MS out of nowhere (no, seriously, Takao is completely baffled as to where it comes from) and wiping off some imaginary dirt.

Stupid... magic... ninja... sexy... Kai?

Stupid extremely complex Kai should cover everything, at this point.

"Uuuh," Takao says intelligently. Change of subject time! "So, what did you do with your clothes?"

-----------

"You're obsessed with Kai's clothes, man," Max points out, suddenly sipping a juice box. Takao stares at him, baffled.

"How do you people _do that_?!" He cries out desperately, gesturing wildly at the juice box. Max blinks innocently.

"... You unwrap the straw, stab the juice box with it in the hole made for stabbing, put the straw in the hole, put the straw in your mouth and sip the juice?"

"Aaaaaaaargh!!! You _know_ what I mean!"

"Ehehe... Maybe? It's a secret~! If you're nice, Kai might teach it to you too..."

"UH?! You mean to tell me that _Kai_ thought you how to be all sneaky ninja-ish?! That is _so_ unfair! Why would he do that?!"

"It drives you mad, mostly."

"If we were having sex he would _so_ sleep on the couch! _Forever_!"

Max snorts in laughter, putting the juice box down so he doesn't spill it everywhere. "If you and Kai were having sex, Kai would be the one calling the shots on when you did, Takao," Max points out, managing to sound casual in between two snickers. And not the candy kind of snickering. That kind, Takao actually _likes_.

"You're the worst best friend ever," Takao says mournfully, and Max beams at him.

"Aw, c'mon! I'd make a great best man, you gotta give me that."

"Chief is getting that position because you're a _jerk_. So _ha_."

"... You want the chief to plan your bachelor party?"

"... Okay that's it. No more distractions! I'm going to tell this story and you are going to _stop interrupting me_! Got it, Maxie?!"

"Right, right. Sorry!"

"... Where was I? Oh, oh, right. So I asked Kai what he did with his usual outfit..."

-----------

Kai, already sitting with his legs crossed, crosses his arms at that question, making him look like a human pretzel...

-----------

"_A human pretzel_?"

"WHAT DID I JUST SAY?! AAAARGH!!"

"Well, stop having such a weird narrative!"

"_Stop interrupting meeeeeee_!" Takao whinges, kicking Max's shoulder from his safe place on the couch.

"Owwwww! That _hurt_!" Max yells out, grabbing at his head. Takao ignores him, acting as if he is suddenly deaf and immune to Max's 'fiercest glare ever'. While he is not deaf, he _is_ pretty much immune to Max's 'fiercest glare ever' right now, if simply out of desperation. Also possibly because Kai makes far scarier glares when he's not even trying. Or Yuriy. Takao is quite certain that Yuriy's smile makes babies cry. _A lot_.

Max is really starting to be offended by all this ignoring, for his part.

"ANYWAY. SO KAI. CLOTHES."

-----------

Kai shrugs and looks away, looking decidedly uncomfortable, and that face looks incredibly familiar to Takao for some reason...

"Your grandfather already took them," Kai says, then continues under his breath, in a definitely puzzled tone: "I'm not actually sure what he's going to do with them..."

Oh. That's why that look seemed familiar. Takao's grandfather is the only person in the universe who can make the entirety of Takao's friends look unsure and guilty when no one else could, _including_ Kai Hiwatari. Though Kai is more puzzled and kind of freaked out whenever he has to interact with Ryuunosuke Kinomiya, though considering his own grandfather, Takao can't really blame him.

Old people are _insane_.

"Whaddya mean, 'you're not sure what he's going to do with them'?" Takao asks, tilting his head to the side. Kai shrugs, stiffly.

"... He tried to attack me when I came out of the bathroom," the older boy admits, looking all the more uncomfortable as that fact is brought to light. Takao resists the urge to hit his head against the wall repeatedly.

Screw old people being insane, his own grandfather is simply the poster child for senile old men being obsessed with kendo. Aaaaaaargh!

"Yeah, he does that," he answers with a sheepish laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. "So, what you ... dodged, then he took your wet clothes and just... left?"

There's a long pause until Kai answers, without looking at him: "Yeah."

Takao has the sudden realization that Kai is omitting something. What did his grandpa do _now_?

"Did he say something--" Takao starts, ready to berate his grandfather if he said something _weird_ to Kai, like 'the other day I heard Takao moaning your name in his sleep and interrupted his best dream ever and when he woke up he yelled: NOOO DON'T WASH OFF THE ICE CREAM, and what do you think that was about, K-man?'.

-----------

"... Do I even want to ask?" Max asks, ignoring the redundancy of his question.

"No. Shut up. Forever. ... Uh. Yeah. So I asked Kai if gramps had said something..."

-----------

"No," Kai interrupts forcefully. "Are you done questioning me, Kinomiya?" He drawls afterwards, and it's only a testament of how far he's come that Kai does not up and leave right then and there. Before, it's what he would have done!

Actually, he probably would have done that if there was some place he could have left _to_. Since Kai is currently stuck in the dojo until the rain ends (and he has his own clothes again), he stays sitting in his corner of Takao's room. Takao counts this as a victory anyway. Ha _ha_. He'll make a human out of Kai _yet_.

"Okay, okay, don't get your panties in a twist," Takao mutters, plopping back down on the floor next to the long-forgotten Dragoon, who has stopped spinning _ages_ ago. He nudges the blade mournfully as he tries to ignore both the reminder that Kai is not actually wearing underwear and the fact that imagining Kai in panties actually turns him on somewhat.

It's very disturbing.

-----------

"I can attest to that," Max whimpers jokingly.

"Everything you say is invalid, you have a mayo fetish," Takao declares, and Max pouts at him. "So uh, ignoring the whole panties issue... where was I? Oh, right, then stuff actually started happening... I think..."

-----------

Kai ignores Takao's comment (as he is a master of ignoring Takao, and anyone else's, comments, though usually it involves far more walking away) and concentrates on Dranzer, turning the blade around in his hands. Takao blows him a raspberry (which is, again, ignored) and sends a prayer to Seiryuu that the evening passes quicker and less awkwardly from now on, otherwise he is so. Very. Screwed.

He turns around to lie on his back and stares at Kai upside-down, arms and legs spread so he takes as much space as possible in his room without actually officially being in Kai's 'bubble'. Or, well, Takao's unofficial definition of Kai's bubble. Kai's own definition of his personal bubble is probably more something along the lines of "twenty meters around me on all angles".

-----------

"Awww, he lets us stand next to him sometimes!" Max protests, and Takao throws him a look. "... It'd be harder to talk to us from twenty meters away, you know."

"If you don't stop interrupting me right now, I'll throw Dragoon Metal Storm at your _face_," Takao warns seriously.

"... Moving along, when does it get to the interesting part?"

"_I am getting there and I would've been done ages ago if you STOPPED INTERRUPTING ME_!!!" Takao roars, jumping down to attack Max, who eeps loudly and rolls out of the way, letting Takao attack his army of pillows instead.

"Hey, hey, no roughhousing in there, you hear me?" Max's father, Taro, yells out from the inside of the shop.

"Sorry!" Max and Takao chorus together by reflex and Max barely manages to catch the pillow Takao throws him after they say it.

"Just-- tell -- your -- story!!" Max gasps out, using his pillow as a shield from all the other pillows attacking him. Takao, who has run out of pillows (now scattered all over the room), takes a deep breath.

"I _will_," he pants out after a long pause, "But only if you stop interrupting me!"

"I will when you get to the fluffy, lovey-dovey part I've been waiting to hear since you started this story," Max counters, and Takao glares at him. Max stares back evenly, and minutes pass as they both have a miniature stare-off. Takao breaks away first, turning his head, huffing.

"FINE," he yells with a pout, and starts telling the story. Again.

-----------

They stay in silence like that for a while; this is normal, as it's _Kai_ Takao is currently hanging out with. Except this time the silence is thick. Takao is used to staying silently with Kai and he doesn't mean the usual companiable silence that comes from not having anything hanging in between two people and just simply enjoying the other's company, purely and simply. As previously stated, this is not the case right now.

It's driving Takao absolutely batshit crazy. He glares at the handful of popcorn he took from the (now empty) bowl as if it is the source of all his problems. It's only the source of two, currently -- his dying need to get something to drink and a piece of corn stuck in between his teeth that is annoying him to no end. His main problem is thus not resolved by eating it viciously, shoving the entire handful in his mouth at once. It doesn't even solve the problems it _had_ caused. Takao still does it, however, and feels a sort of vindictive reprieve as some of the annoyance leaves his body. Being violent _helps_, even if it's against inanimate objects such as food.

It doesn't help for long, but Takao isn't looking at the long term of things right now, really. He takes a determined breath and finally looks up at Kai, whose face is shadowed by his bangs as he (probably) stares at his beyblade. _Even Kai's _hair _is made to make it impossible for people to read him_, Takao thinks pitifully. Undeterred by this thought, because Kai being difficult is not new, Takao gets an excellent idea.

"Hey, Kai," he starts, and the other boy has the decency to at least look at him while he's talking, for once, "Want to have a match?"

Shut up his ideas are excellent and totally make sense when you think this is _Kai_ and all he wants in life is to fight Takao. Really. No, seriously. Kai raises an eyebrow, looking curious and interested yet dubious at the same time, and Takao thinks one eyebrow raise should not mean so much at the same time.

But again, this is Kai, who is the world's most complicated person ever because he finds it funny to see Takao flail and fail. Or something.

"We can't have a match indoors," Kai points out in his soft-but-firm voice, and Takao realizes how _wrong_ that description sounds, so no interruptions allowed. "And it's still raining outside."

Takao grins mischievously, eyes half-lidded. "Who said I was talking about a real beybattle?" Takao points out, raising Dragoon's blade. Kai's eyes narrow as he tries to understand just what the hell Takao is trying to say, and Takao laughs shortly. "Just watch!" He tells Kai, then puts Dragoon on the ground and spins it with a flick of his wrist, as one would a regular top.

Kai stares at the blade for a few seconds before raising his own deadpan stare to Takao. This one, Takao knows, means 'explain yourself right now Kinomiya before I deduct from my mental calculation of your IQ two points, _again_, and at -300 it's starting to be _pretty _low'. Or something like that.

"I bet you can't make it spin longer than I can," Takao challenges triumphantly, positively _leering_ at Kai by now. "C'mon! You scared I'll beat you in something like that, too?"

"What's next, jump rope skipping contests?" Kai mutters, scoffing and turning his head away. "If you want to embarrass yourself, do it on your own."

Takao pouts. "Boooo," he replies childishly, picking up his blade with a flair and addresses it pitifully. "See that, Seiryuu? Kai's scared you'll kick Suzaku's butt sideways even when you're not trying! He's _terrified_ he might have _fun_! What should I dooooo!"

A pillow hits him right in the face and he looks up with wide eyes and a splutter, facing a completely deadpan Kai and his pillow missing from his bed. What the... but Kai is on... the OTHER side of the room...??

"How do you _do_ that?!" Takao whines, and Kai ignores him. As always.

"Stop trying to make me play your stupid game," Kai tells him, making a show of rolling his eyes at Takao. Takao flails a bit.

"But I'm booooooooooored," Takao whines again. "Play with meeeeee!"

"Play with _yourself_," Kai snaps, and a terse silence follows as Takao realizes the connotations of what Kai just said.

-----------

"PLAY WITH YOURSELF," Max chortles loudly, grasping at his stomach. "Play with yourseeeeeelf ahahahaha_hahaha_ oh my _God_!"

"And we were doing so well, too," Takao mourns, and then kicks Max's shoulder viciously. "Shut up it's not that funny!"

"Play with meeeee! No, play with yourself! Oh my God, you guys _suck_! ... _hahahaha I said suck_! I bet you WISH Kai sucked!"

"WHAT NO-- I mean yes -- I mean -- _We've only been going out for a day_!!" Takao wails. Max ignores him, feeling this is fair payback from all the ignoring Takao himself did previously and would probably do in the future. Besides, he's too busy laughing right now.

"Pffffthahahahaha..."

"You're the perviest fourteen year old ever and I'm going to ignore you now," Takao answers, sniffing indignantly and sticking his nose up in the air.

"I'm a _guy_." Max points out between two chuckles. Eee, play with yourself.

"... So am I!" Takao retaliates.

"Who tries on dresses..."

"-- wha-- uh -- huh -- How did you know about that?!"

"Heard it from Rick who heard it from Mao who heard it from Master Tao himself~!"

"... Are you guys bladers or gossipers?!" Takao gripes, wishing he could throw a pillow at Max's face hard enough so that it would reach Tao in China, passing by Mao and Rick, which meant the pillow would do a pit stop in America, and so Takao wished it would hit Ralf Jurgen, too, just so the round the world trip wasn't useless for the pillow.

Not that he dislikes Ralf or anything, but the guy deserves to be hit with a pillow so he stops being so serious. Or stops having that ridiculous frowny expression stuck on his face, whichever.

"Both. Hey, everyone needs a hobby."

"_Whatever_. Are you done laughing yet?"

"... pfff play with yourself."

"I'm going to take that as a yes anyway. So AFTER THAT dialogue..."

-----------

While Takao is busy being extremely disturbed by the previous conversation, Kai seems not to have noticed, keeping his face perfectly blank. Takao suspects that Kai would be able to keep his face completely blank when he was having an aneurysm, so that's not saying much, really. And, fine, maybe he's being a tad unfair -- Kai changes expressions sometimes. ... Mostly to varying levels of annoyance, starting from 'slightly ticked' and ending at '_so pissed off it's terrifying for even Brooklyn_', passing by exasperation with the very rare stop at slightly happy/fond look.

Takao isn't quite sure when Kai's facial became comparable to train stations, but there are probably weirder metaphors out there. Probably.

Takao coughs, uncomfortable and slightly blushing as he comes down from his high of Kai uttering the words 'play with yourself' completely seriously. "A-anyway... What if _I_ want to play with _you_?" Takao counters before his brain can reject that response. Realizing what he said only makes him blush harder, of course, though he tries to keep a straight challenging face on regardless. Maybe if he acts like there are no connotations Kai will not notice them and _everything will be back to normal_.

Denial never actually works, but it damn well _should_, and normally when Takao believes enough, things work out for him! ... Also, Kai grew up in an _abbey_ and then spent the better part of his life ignoring people and anything unrelated to Beyblade, for crying out loud! He should damn well _not_ be aware of anything sexually related! It'd make Takao's life _easier_, at any rate.

... Or maybe harder, actually...

Kai looks dubiously at Takao, _possibly_ because the boy's expression looks slightly demented right now. A mix of 'determination', 'embarrassment', 'raving rage', 'pondering' and 'horrified' generally does look pretty weird. "What are you talking about, Kinomiya?"

_Aaaaaaaaah!!!! _

"_You can't know about sex!_" Takao blurts out in panic, throwing back the pillow at Kai as he flails.

Kai dodges it expertly, staring at Takao as if he suddenly has a second head growing out. ... No, not the one in his pants, that one has been laying low for a while now. "_What_?" Kai asks finally, completely bewildered and as freaked out as Kai Hiwatari acts about anything not related to drowning or losing to someone not named Takao Kinomiya. So, mildly freaked out.

_Abort, abort_, Takao's brain tells him, _this mission is terminally dangerous! Code Red! I repeat, Code Red! Abort!!_

_Since when are you a computer?_, Takao thinks back at his brain, and then realizes he has promptly lost it if he is having conversation with his brain. ... Perhaps there was crack in his popcorn.

"I mean uh there was nothing remotely sexual about anything we've said and I'm totally _not_ a fourteen year old boy with working hormones who takes _everything_ the wrong way and also those jeans totally don't look great on you and _hi Kai_ let's play the 'shut up and go to sleep' game I LOVE THAT ONE", Takao says exceedingly fast, without taking a single breath until the end of his ... supposed sentence. The end result is, of course, that Takao has to take a deep breath after this, which lets him -- and Kai -- analyze exactly what he has just said.

... Shitcock.

"I'm leaving," Kai tells Takao, in a completely deadpan voice, raising himself from the floor slowly and stalking away. Which, Takao learned when Kai was wearing that weird outfit with the turtleneck and the woman gloves, is far more dramatic with the scarf than without.

Regardless, Takao gets up in a scramble, running after Kai. "Hey! _Hey_! Don't walk away from me -- and you're -- still wearing my clothes!!" He yells, ignoring the fact that Kai is only a few meters ahead of him and can hear him perfectly fine without the yelling. Kai, obviously, ignores him. He puts on his shoes in a quick movement and walks outside before Takao can even _find_ his own, so he forgoes footwear in order to run after Kai outside in the rain.

-----------

"Are you guys always this dramatic?" Max questions innocently.

"Shut up, it's not my fault Kai's failing logic tells him that the proper response to a situation is to walk away! Now sit down, shut your mouth and listen! I'm finally getting somewhere, here!"

"Yay..."

-----------

"Kai!" Takao cries out as he runs in the dojo's entrance, getting completely soaked by _stupid rain_, though to be fair Kai isn't fairing any better in the dry department. "Kai! Would you just -- _stop_ for a second?!" He yells out angrily, and Kai finally stops. Right next to the closed doors and giant walls that lead to the road, which is lucky because Takao is _so _not walking out in the street barefoot in the middle of a thunderstorm. Seriously. No.

"You know what," Takao snaps, his hair plastered to his face and his pajamas extremely uncomfortable right this instant. "Would it _kill_ you to stop being so overly-dramatic for _once_ in your life and stop taking offense to the littlest thing possible?! I don't even know what you're walking away for this time!"

Kai turns to stare at him heavily at the same moment as lightning strikes the sky, making him look _very freaky_. Takao is only slightly comforted by the fact that lightning would strike Kai before it would strike Takao, since Kai is slightly taller. _Ha_. Screw you, tall people.

"If you don't know, I'm not going to tell you," Kai tells him once the lightning (and thus, the _lighting_) is gone, and Takao frowns at that answer.

"You don't... you don't even _know_, do you?" Takao realizes with a laugh, shaking his head. "If I'd done something to upset you on purpose, I could get it, but... but I'm tired of having to walk on eggshells with you over stupid stuff like this!"

"Like what?" Kai asks, perplexed.

"I don't _know_," Takao gripes, "You-- you're the most infuriating person I've ever met! Seriously! Stop running away from your problems just _once_! Can't you just -- just... tell me stuff?"

Kai looks completely lost.

-----------

"Is it me, or did you completely lose any context whatsoever?" Max asks, just as lost as Kai had been.

"... Shut up, I was emotional, it was raining and late and I'm a teenage boy with hormones."

"That last one totally isn't a valid explanation."

"Fine, I'm a teenage boy with hormones that resulted in his first _real_ crush, on _another guy_, who happens to be one of his _best friends_ and one of the most _emotionally fucked up_ person I've ever _met_! Happy?!"

"... Uh..."

"And you know what's worse? I don't even _mind_ any of that stuff! Sure, Kai's weird and complicated and a bundle of issues and _whatever_, but he's _Kai_, and I'd trust him with my _life_, so trusting him with my heart isn't that much of a stretch. And I know that when he leaves he'll come back, because it's like ... like gravity, and there's a space for us -- just for us, so I know... I know he feels the same, okay."

"..."

"..."

"Takao..."

"I--I know that was sappy, okay. So -- so, uhm, where... where was I?"

"...Um..."

"R-right. That -- rain. Thing."

-----------

"You're not making any sense," Kai informs Takao, who buries his head in his hands and gives a hollow, sheepish laugh.

"I knooow," Takao whines, barely audible above the rain. He raises his head up again (and makes himself audible again, too!) after taking a deep breath. "Can we just -- have this conversation, or, heck, ANY conversation _inside_? Where it is, you know, dry and not wet?"

"'Dry' generally means 'not wet'," Kai responds, _dryly_. Though Takao does wander how Kai would sound if he said something _wet_ly...

badthoughtsbadthoughtsbadthoughtsbadthoughts

"You don't have to be a drama queen in the rain! It's just as dramatic when we're _not in the middle of a thunderstorm_!" The World Champion (of Beyblade and Saying Incredibly Wrong Things to Kai Hiwatari) mentions. With another whine.

Somewhere, the world's tiniest violin is playing.

"'Be a drama queen'?" Kai repeats, looking rather offended. Takao doesn't see why he's so offended; he is the prettiest drama queen Takao knows. . . . Thank goodness Kai can't read thoughts or Takao would probably be multiple times dead by now. 'Pretty'??

_Are you trying to get me killed?_, Takao whines at his brain, who would respond with a shrug if it had shoulders. That were not Takao's.

... and Takao decides to ignore _himself_, now, because he is retarded and not helping any.

"When you leave in a huff, all dramatic like for no conceivable reason while someone is in the middle of talking, that's called being a drama queen," Takao tells Kai matter-of-factly. Kai, who, in the middle of his 'matter-of-fact' speech, turned around and started leaving. "THAT'S JUST PROVING MY POINT, YOU KNOW," Takao yells out after him, irate.

Then mentally yells at himself as he realizes that is he _still_ not helping any, and his resolve to ignore himself might've been a great idea. He tries to run after Kai and manages to slip in a puddle, face planting on the ground. Now he is wet _and_ full of mud, which in any other scenario could've been something good. Kai looks back at the noise and stares as Takao tries desperately to sit, spitting out mud in the process. Ugh. Ew. He stays in his puddle of mud, disgusted and completely _peeved_, and Kai can go _drown _in a _lake _for all he cares. Stupid Kai. Stupid rain. Stupid mud. Stupid taste of mud.

Why does it have to taste like dirt, anyway?!

So occupied is Takao in his mental rant of stupid life, stupid universe, and stupid everything that he doesn't notice as Kai shakes his head and starts to approach him until the other boy trusts his hand in front of his face. Takao looks up, stupefied.

"Huh?" Takao says, intelligently.

"Shut up and take my hand, Kinomiya, or I'll leave you in the mud," Kai answers, though the smirk on his face shows he's just kidding. ... Maybe. Probably.

Takao grins brightly and takes Kai's hand when a devious idea hits him and he _pulls_, surprising Kai enough with his move that he predictably falls in the mud too! ... Except, instead of falling next to him, Kai falls _right on top of him_, wet and covered and mud and his face far too close to Takao's own for comfort.

Maybe that hadn't been such a good idea.

"... Hi," Takao manages with a grin. This is such a typical and awkward moment he can't even bring himself to blush, really. He totally should've expected it. ... Besides... Kai hasn't moved yet.

He's tense -- his entire body language is screaming 'get away get away _aaah physical contact it burns meeee_' (... okay, maybe not that last part) -- but he hasn't moved. The look on his face is ... stricken, almost. It beats Takao's own dumb and slightly giddy grin, which fades into worry as Kai continues staring at him silently. Takao can't get up -- Kai's arms are on either side of him since he made Kai fall (this comes from survival face planting reflexes that Takao _totally _lacks) and that just serves to make this moment grow awkwarder... and awkwarder... and _awkwarder_...

Until all the tension in Kai's body seems to leave as he sighs, closing his eyes and resting his forehead on Takao's, lips parted.

"... Kai?" Takao questions softly. His first urge is to kiss the other boy, but -- that might not be the best idea.

Kai licks his lips before he speaks, and the urge only grows stronger. "Kinomiya," he starts, softly, and then laughs humorlessly, opening his eyes to stare at Takao's own. "I don't get it," Kai admits, finally, and Takao frowns.

"Me either," he jokes, and Kai shakes his head ever so slightly -- and Takao can _feel_ every breath, every little movement Kai makes in this position. If it wasn't for the rain, he'd probably be able to hear his heartbeat. If this was a cheap romance movie, they'd be beating in sync, too. Takao's own heartbeat is far too erratic, though, so he rules that out -- unless Kai's heart is also doing an impression of a drum solo, which is very doubtful. It's _Kai_.

"It's always about you," Kai says, and Takao is completely thrown off. "It's like... my whole life... just revolves around you."

"... I'm sorry?" Takao tries, and feels this would be far easier to understand if he wasn't freezing and full of mud.

"... I want... Never mind," Kai backtracks, shaking his head and going to rise -- and Takao panics, grabbing the back of his neck to stop him from moving and raising himself up slightly to kiss him.

It's probably the lousiest first kiss in the history of the _world _-- first off, there's a lot of teeth clashing at first, and Takao's mouth still tastes like mud, and he kind of misses so he's kissing only, like, half of Kai's lips, and finally it lasts approximately 3.5 seconds before Takao lets go abruptly and falls back in the mud as Kai stares, only managing to keep his balance because _his_ hold was on the ground, which is far less likely to kill you.

Unless there is an earthquake.

"... I like you," Takao declares, and when Kai throws him a '_duh_' kind of befuddled expression (which is, quite frankly, adorable) he adds quickly: "As a friend _and _like-_like_. I don't even know when I realized I did, but -- yeah, that's why I was acting weird today. But you're still a drama queen for walking out like that."

Kai stares at him, sitting on his haunches in the rain in a puddle of mud, and Takao realizes that this probably looks completely ridiculous as he sits up again and squishes a worm. Oh poopy.

"... I was weirded out," Kai admits after a long pause in which Takao made numerous faces at the fact that he had _squished a worm ewwwwww_. "But not just because of you. I..."

There's another pause as Takao looks expectantly at Kai, who looks awkward and uncomfortable. As great as he is with speeches, he's still not fond of them, Takao realizes with a mental chuckle.

"You mean so much to me," Kai says, softly, looking up at the sky. How he can manage that when it's raining on his face, Takao doesn't know. Takao himself usually has to close his eyes when he tries that because _water droplets falling directly into his eyes_ is awkward. "I wanted ... to be like you. But I'm not like you. I _can't_ be like you. You're... too much. Kinomiya... I love you."

Takao stays silent, struck speechless. "You..." He shakes his head, slightly. "... You can be pretty blunt when you want to."

Kai shrugs, standing up. "What can I say? It's love," he murmurs slightly sardonically, holding out a hand for Takao. "Let's go."

Takao considers pulling him down again. It seems that throwing Kai in mud works...

"If you try to throw me in the mud again, I'll throw you in the pond," Kai mentions completely deadpan.

Mud throwing can wait, okay. Takao laughs innocently. "Me? I'd never even think about it!" Takao takes Kai's hand, letting himself be pulled up, and tries to kiss Kai, who pulls away slightly, though at least he doesn't let go of his hand. That is luckily not the one he squished a worm with. "What? What's wrong? You just said--" Takao starts, panicking.

"You taste like mud," Kai informs him, and the younger boy makes a face.

"This is your entire fault in the first place, Mister 'Walking out dramatically because neither of us can sort out our feelings so that they make sense'!"

"Whatever."

Takao makes a face. "Fine! _Be like that_! But just so you know, your hand is mine! So there!"

With that, Takao pulls Kai inside, still holding him by his hand. "... We're going to have to get cleaned up eventually," Kai mentions in passing.

"Well, the rest of you can be mine for a while.'It's love', right?"

"... Stop quoting me, Kinomiya." Kai grounds out, looking as if he regretted deeply having had an emotional moment outside of a beystadium for once in his life.

"Shouldn't you call me by my first name if we're dating?"

"Who said we were dating?"

"'It's love'~!" Takao singsongs, practically skipping.

"... Whatever."

"I'm going to take that as consent."

A sigh as Kai looks at Takao's hand entwined with his own and looks away again.

"... Do what you want."

-----------

"And that's the story of how Kai and I got together!" Takao finishes with a grin, and Max stares at him.

"... Seriously?" Max deadpans.

"... What?"

"Kai could've told that story in about two sentences, you know. Probably less."

"Max. You know what?"

"What?"

"Shut up."

A giant pillow fight ensues.

-----------

"... Hey, Kai?"

"Hmm?"

"... I love you too."

"... Hmm."

* * *

NEVER. AGAIN.

After DAYS UPON DAYS of working on this, I AM FINALLY DONE. And never doing this again, wow.

The style is based on how my own/my friends retelling of stories usually go. Luckily for all of you and myself, I shortened it up quite a bit by skipping the tangential stories that end with the first story finishing HOURS LATER. Um. I probably have lots I could say about this fic, but generally I think it can be summarised with: IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAAAND... words. Also, I'm aware Kai and Takao make no sense. In fact, Takao and Max mention this a lot! In fact, Max and Takao pretty much do a Lampshade Hanging (this term only makes sense if you read tvtropes) on the entire fic, so I don't have to mention details! ... BECAUSE I HAVE FORGOTTEN THEM. I was trying to see if I am more productive when writing 1k a day instead of doing everything in one day or two. I AM NOT, though the stories tend to be longer and far more confusing, I think.

Anyway, this was my TyKa get-together fic for Dazzley. I'm never doing a fic where they get together again. It takes forever. ALSO, ON KAI'S LOVE THING. Kai's special attack against Brooklyn, in japanese, is 'Ai da', literally "it's love". ... He's probably talking about his feelings for Beyblade, but the fact that this follows flashbacks of Takao makes me laugh EVERY SINGLE TIME, so I had to add it in. IDK my bff neverdoingthisagain. ... Also, I need to stop being such a crack writer.

... Hope you enjoyed it!

-Zia


End file.
